A novel sulphate-reducing bacterium (Al1T) was recovered from a soured oil well in Purdu Bay, Alaska. Light and atomic force microscopy observations revealed that cells were Gram-negative, vibrio-shaped and motile by means of a single polar flagellum. The carbon and energy sources used by the isolate and the salinity, temperature and pH ranges facilitating its growth proved to be typical of a partial lactate-oxidizing, moderately halophilic, mesophilic, sulphate-reducing bacterium. Analysis of the fatty acid profile revealed that C(18 : 0), isoC(15 : 0) and isoC(17 : 1)omega7c were the predominant species. Fatty acid profile and complete 16S rRNA gene sequencing demonstrated the similarity between strain Al1T and members of the genus Desulfovibrio. The position of strain Al1T within the phylogenetic tree indicated that it clustered closely with Desulfovibrio vietnamensis DSM 10520T (98.9 % sequence similarity), a strain recovered from a similar habitat. However, whole-cell protein profiles, Fourier-transform infrared studies and DNA-DNA hybridization demonstrated that, in spite of the high level of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, there is sufficient dissimilarity at the DNA sequence level between D. vietnamensis DSM 10520T and strain Al1T (10.2 % similarity) to propose that strain Al1T belongs to a separate species within the genus Desulfovibrio. Based on the results obtained, the name Desulfovibrio alaskensis sp. nov. is therefore proposed, with Al1T (= NCIMB 13491T = DSM 16109T) as the type strain.